Radioactive
by Kakomine
Summary: Lucy and Maka are normal teenagers... until the incident. A nuclear power plant in Death City exploded, and the duo was left for dead... but are they really dead? Or just undergoing adaptions to the new, toxic environment? Will the other, pre-evolutionary humans shun them? An adventure starts here! WARNING: NaLu and SoMa!
1. Awakening

Chapter 1

"So how long do we have, again?" a dirty blond teenage girl with earth green eyes asked for the third time.

Another teenage girl, who was totally blond and had chocolate brown eyes sighed with annoyance. "A few minutes, Maka. The radiation is spreading fast. I'm pretty sure everyone who were turned away at Magnolia's gates are dead by now. And then the people in the city itself will probably-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Lucy. They'll be going crazy because of the lack of space. This was the third time you said that," Maka complained.

Lucy groaned. "You gotta be fricken kidding me! That was the third time you asked that question!"

The two were sitting in a hastily set-up tent, in the middle of a grassy plain. The two had fled from their home city, Death City, to Magnolia, which was Fiore's capital city. Unfortunately, as the capital came into sight, they saw its huge gates closing, and the people trapped outside were desperately trying to get in. Not wanting to get caught up in the crowd, the duo automatically passed right by the city, heading to who-knows-where to die of the rapidly-spreading radiation.

You also might be wondering about the radiation. That came from Death City. All of the nuclear plants' cores collapsed on themselves and exploded, killing the workers in the factory. Then, the radiation from the plants creeped out of the ruins, and people were getting sick and dying. That's when Lucy and Maka knew something was truly wrong. So they fled, and found out the radiation was spreading throughout the country, maybe the entire continent. Now this, my friends, is where they gave up and accepted that they were going to die any day. This leads us to the current time, a few days later from then, and mere minutes from when the radiation hits our two escapees.

"I'm gonna miss Soul, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, and even that bastard Black⭐Star..." Maka sobbed into Lucy's shoulder. "I hope they all made it into Magnolia..."

Lucy smiled softly and remembered her own friends before the disaster struck. "Yeah... I can connect. I'm gonna miss Erza, Gray, Levy-chan, Gajeel, Mirajane, Elfman, Happy, and heck, even Laxus and Makarov, that old coot... most of all I'm gonna miss... Natsu. I remember they all got automatic acceptance into Magnolia because of their guild, Fairy Tail."

Maka grins. "You lllllllllliked him, didn't you?"

Lucy just simply stared at Maka. "I have a feeling you and Happy would have a strong friendship..."

Maka looked out of the tent.

"... it's here..."

That's when everything went black for the duo.

* * *

(Two Years Later)

Soul sat on a bench, watching his friends play basketball. Well, all except one. The albino sighed. He missed Maka, and knew almost for certain she didn't make it to Magnolia. His buddy, Natsu, was in the same predicament. He lost a friend dear to him to the radiation. Soul was trying to remember her name. Luigi, Lungi... oh, Lucy. Apparently, the dense dragon slayer had a huge crush on her, according to Gray, Natsu's rival.

"Oi, Soul! You gonna sulk all day, or watch me surpass the go-" Black⭐Star was interrupted by Natsu punching him.

"Oi, shut up, star-brain! I can't stand to hear that crap!" the Fire Dragon Slayer yelled, a grin of challenge gracing his features.

"You wanna go, fire-breath? Bring it!" Black⭐Star yelled, readying his fists.

Tsubaki was watching from the sidelines, worry lines creasing her pretty features. Erza, who had lost all desire to stop the boys' fight since Lucy's disappearance, stepped beside her gentle Weapon friend.

"Oh my..." Tsubaki sighed. "Not again..."

"Ah, just let them be. They've been going through tough times, especially Natsu and Soul." Erza's momentarily serene face turned dark and grim. "I miss Lucy so much... if she came back, I would give her all of my strawberry cake for a month!"

Tsubaki laughed. "I'm in the same boat. I miss Maka... she was like the younger sister I never had. If she came back, I'm pretty sure Soul would crush her windpipe from hugging her so hard."

Erza chuckled, and glanced up. There. The almost-invisible barrier that separated Magnolia's citizens and survivors from the lethal radiation in the outside world. She sighed, and thought, _Lucy... I wish you were here..._

* * *

Said girl stirred from her resting place and sneezed. Lucy looked around. Was she really alive? Wha-? How? The blond then remembered her companion.

"Maka!" Lucy yelled, "Are you there? Are you awake?"

A groan was heard from nearby, and Lucy turned her head in the sound's direction. She gasped. There, she saw Maka stir from what was apparently deep slumber. The dirty blond's clothes were ragged and torn on the edges.

When Maka saw Lucy, she yelled, "The hell, Lucy, your skin's green!"

Said blond looked down at her arms and hands in surprise. Maka was right. Her skin had a light green tone to it. Lucy looked back at the green-eyed girl.

"And you're green, too! What the hell happened to us? And how come we can breathe the radiation and toxic atmosphere?" Lucy started panicking, but Maka laid a calming hand on her partner's shoulder.

"I don't know. We don't know anything right now," Maka explained calmly, "But first, we should head to Magnolia and get some supplies there before we do anything else."

Lucy hesitated, then quickly muttered, "Alright, but make it quick. I don't want to run into anybody that finds us suspicious."

"Alright! To Magnolia!" Maka cheered.

**(Timeskip: 5 hours)**

"O-okay..." Lucy panted, looking up at the dirty walls of Magnolia, "W-we're here..."

"Y-yeah." Maka panted as well. "That was some pretty fast running. Are we like, the evolved versions of humans?"

"I wouldn't know. I mean, we just 'woke up'." Lucy used air quotes for the last part.

"Huh? They have guards with gas masks on by the gate. Weird. Were there people attacking the city because they wanted shelter?" Maka had an almost-visible question above her head.

Lucy's sweat dropped. "That's what I'm guessing. Hey, didn't you have blush powder in your backpack when we passed by here before we got hit by the radiation?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was thinking we could cover our greenish skin tone since this probably isn't the normal skin color..."

"Good idea." Maka pulled out her blush powder, and the two padded themselves down with it. Soon enough, they both looked like they had their normal, tanned skin. Then they approached the guards stationed outside the city.

They looked absolutely shellshocked.

"Who are you, and how can you walk around without a gas mask?" one of the guards demanded, pointing his AK-47 at Lucy and Maka.

"I am Lucy. This is Maka," Lucy said calmly, pointing to herself and then to Maka," And to answer your second question, we don't really know."

The other guard stared at the duo thoughtfully. He then said in a soft voice to Lucy, "You may enter. But we're going to have to get rid of any remaining radiation clouding around you. Please step inside."

The nice guard gestured to a glass room adjacent of the front gate. I had two doors; one led out into the radiation, while the other led into the city proper. Lucy and Maka stepped into the room, looking around wonderingly.

"I wonder how long we've been asleep..." Lucy whispered as the room sucked all of the toxic air into tanks that spewed it back out into the atmosphere.

"Yeah, this all seems like super high-tech stuff..." Maka whispered back.

The two friends glanced at each other and locked hands.

Lucy and Maka took their first steps into civilization for two years.

* * *

**Minna, konichiwa! I'm sorry about the put-story-on-hiatus thing. I really am. I just need to get over my writer's block. Anyway, how was the chapter? I'll have a little fluff in the next one, so I'll try to publish the next chappy tonight or tomorrow. Ja ne~!**

**~Kakomine**


	2. The Surprise Meeting and Escape

Chapter 2

Lucy breathed in the fresh air, and looked around at the city in amazement. Maka did the exact same. Trees dotted the entire area, while the buildings all had soft-toned colors as a nice contrast. The air was completely clear; no sickly green or grey fog covered the area.

"Must be nice living here while the rest of us suffered," Lucy commented softly, her sweet face darkening to a scowl, becoming indignant at the privileges given to those who simply lived at Magnolia.

"Yeah..." Maka replied, her voice equally soft.

"Ok, listen, here's the plan." The authorative tone in Lucy's voice caused Maka to stand at attention. "You will go and get the food and all of the necessary supplies we can carry, ok? I will scour the city and provide a means of escape."

Maka looked very confused. "What do you mean? Won't they just let us out?"

"No. Magnolia is basically a one-way stop. So we'll have to break ourselves out," Lucy explained.

"Okay, then... I'll just... go shopping..." Maka's sweat dropped at the prospect of 'shopping' in a situation like this.

"I know, it's a bit weird, but... I'll be going. We'll rendezvous at the sports area near the west entrance to Magnolia, okay?" Lucy grinned reassuringly, ruffling Maka's head.

"Yeah! I'll see ya then, nee-chan!"

Lucy smiled at her new nickname.

* * *

Maka was walking around some of the shops in Magnolia.

And hell, they were HUGE!

Maka gazed around all of the colorful candy shops, the interesting clothing stores, and the spacious ware departments.

"Wow, this is a lot of new technology... I'm seriously wondering how old I am now, and how long that stupid sleep was. Goddammit!" Maka suddenly shouted, and a whole crowd of people stared at her.

"Ehm, moving on..." Maka coughed, edging away from the scene. "Hell, I'm becoming so much like Black⭐Star, it's not even funny..."

"Speaking of Black⭐Star and everyone else, I wonder how they're all doing...?"

As Maka was stuck in her own thoughts, she accidentally bumped into someone, causing the person to yelp.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry!" Maka apologized profusely. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Tsu...baki...?"

The black-haired and blue-eyed girl was staring at Maka in shock. A pink-haired boy was with her, trying to ask Tsubaki who the hell was this girl. The dirty blond girl started shaking in fear, as she knew only Tsubaki and the rest of the gang knew she was truly supposed to be dead.

"Oh no..." Maka whispered, "Lucy's gonna be so pissed..."

The pink-haired boy heard the last comment, and his eyes widened. Then he took a step forward, his body completely covered in flames and growled, "Where is Lucy?!"

Maka was shaking so hard now, the poor girl could barely keep her own weight. So, she did the only sensible thing to do in this type of situation.

Run.

* * *

Lucy wandered the streets near the weapon and auto shops. The technologies in this year, whatever 'this year' is, are amazing, Lucy thought to herself, wide brown eyes scanning every possible machine they could find. The teen then saw a motorcycle shop.

Oh, no way. We're taking these for escaping... Those motorcycles look so cool! Lucy thought, her eyes glittering. Unconsciously, she drifted over to one of said motorcycles and started fawning over it, and studying every aspect of it.

Just then, a loud and shocked gasp came from across the bike. Lucy glanced up, and almost toppled over at who it was. Erza and a white-haired albino guy were staring at her.

"E-erza-sama?" Lucy stuttered, completely freaked out by now. She edged towards the door.

"Lucy..." reddish bangs covered the Re-Equip mage's face, and Lucy knew what that meant.

Lucy ran, yelling so the albino dude could hear, "Maka heeeeelp meeeeeeeee!"

The poor blond pushed and shoved through the crowds to get to the sports area, Erza almost right behind her and doing the same. A thought passed through Lucy's mind. She had super speed now, right? Why not use it?

Lucy focused and poured her will into her running, and she left Erza in the dust of her wake. Soon, the sports area was in sight, but the sight that greeted Lucy did not comfort the blond at all.

Natsu had Maka cornered into the basketball court, along with a black-haired girl.

* * *

Maka was sure she was going to die. The angry Dragon Slayer in front of her was going to kill her.

Maka yelled, "Lucy! Help!"

"Maka!" a shocked voice came from the basketball court's entrance. "Run!"

The pink-haired boy turned his attention from Maka to the shocked Lucy right in front of him. Maka used the opportunity to run Lucy's way.

"Lucy? What are we waiting for? Let's run the way you came!" Maka shouted hurriedly.

"No. Erza's that way. Listen, Maka, run. Leave me. I have a plan," Lucy smoothly lied.

"Tch. It's not cool to run from your friends." Soul smirked, jumping down from a wall adjacent to the basketball court.

"S-soul?" Maka whimpered, looking at said boy with wide eyes.

"Lucy..." Natsu growled.

Said teen's eyes were rapidly looking for an escape route, but when none came, her shoulders slumped.

"I give up." Lucy looked down on the ground ashamedly.

"Nee-chan... then I will, too..." Maka sighed.

* * *

"Explanation, you two. Now."

Here's the situation... the group of friends finally got Lucy and Maka. They were at the apartment complex all of the friends stayed in.

Natsu has been holding onto Lucy tightly around the waist, refusing to let the poor blond go. The possessive Dagon Slayer had been resting his chin on her shoulder and head, and sometimes going so far as to nuzzle her on the neck. Poor Lucy has been beet red the whole time.

Maka and Soul were sitting right next to the pair, with Soul's right arm draped over Maka's shoulders. The albino was radiating a smug atmosphere, and to top it off, he was smirking. Maka, on the other hand, was pissed. Lucy had let them down. Plus, Erza was pointing a sword at them. That was never a good thing.

Lucy sighed and started rubbing her skin roughly. Erza narrowed her eyes and demanded, "What are you doing?"

Lucy had just exposed her greenish skin and showed it to the group. She explained, "This is why we didn't want to get caught. No, we didn't make it into the city. Yes, the radiation and toxic air caught up with us. Technically, I think we really were dead to the world until several hours ago. We discovered that all of our senses are enhanced, and our muscle tone. Other than that, we really don't know what happened to us."

"Woah! That's soooooo cool, Luce! I bet you could kick Black⭐Star's ass!" Natsu tried to flatter Lucy, but unfortunately for the Dragon Slayer, that wasn't going to work.

"Like I would really want to, anyway..." Lucy muttered.

Maka gritted her teeth in frustration. What was making Lucy give up so easily? If her nee-chan wasn't going to help, then Maka would get them out of Magnolia. A plan started to formulate in that dirty blond head...

"Alright, you know what... We're getting out of this city, and there's nothing you guys will do about it!" Maka yelled, standing up suddenly.

**Kakomine: Oooh, yes, good plan Maka... not... -.-'**

Lucy stood up, too, shrugging off Natsu's grip. She held her hand towards Maka, so the dirty blond handed the blond girl the blush powder. Lucy padded it over the rubbed-on skin.

"We can't stay here. I'm getting a bad feeling... The clean air is starting to feel oppressive... Do you feel it, too, Maka?" Lucy drew a shaky breath.

"Yeah. We need to get back out in that trash. It sounds sickening, but right now, I don't feel so good..." Maka said, putting some pressure on her stomach.

"No. You two will not go ANYWHERE. Is that clear?" Erza radiated pure murder, and kept her sword pointed at Lucy.

Lucy frowned. "Erza... you would harm me to keep me here? A friend? Don't you understand, our bodies changed!"

Erza hesitated. That gave Maka and Lucy the opening they needed. Lucy pushed open the door, and the duo charged through it. They used their enhanced speed and burst out of the apartment complex.

"Where's the escape route?" Maka asked, panting slightly.

"I found an auto shop, and two of these really fast motorcycles. Here's the cool part. I got a glimpse of the instruction manual before I had to run, and it said the motorcycles could fold up into a palm-sized cube. So now, we don't have to worry about crashing through the wall and letting the toxic air in Magnolia." Lucy was talking while they were running. They knew that the others had probably given chase already.

The blond ran into the auto shop, and looked around. There wasn't anyone there, but the door was unlocked... strange. Lucy strode towards the two motorcycles she saw earlier, and pressed a button on them. They turned into two silver, palm-sized cubes.

"Awesome..." she muttered, then called to Maka, "Here, take it and put it your pocket or something. I have the other one, so let's go."

Lucy tossed one of the cubes to Maka, and they walked out of the store.

Just when Natsu and Soul rounded the corner to their street.

"Shit..." Maka muttered, "Run!"

The duo bolted toward the entrance they went through to get into the city. They saw the guards from outside come in the city. Lucy smirked. Perfect. They were switching patrols. Maka looked behind her, and saw that Erza had passed Soul and Natsu. Plus, the redhead was gaining. With a sword poised to strike. Never a good thing. Ever.

"Lucy!" Maka yelled, "They're gaining!"

In response, Lucy only growled in determination. Lucy leaped through the glass room, and managed to get outside, into the toxic environment. Maka glanced regretfully behind her, and saw Soul giving her a pleading look. Maka shook her head regretfully, and leaped outside like Lucy had. They both threw down their cubes, and the motorcycles unfolded.

They both revved the engines and sped off, leaving toxic dust in their wake. The new set of guards loaded their guns and started firing. Maka was dodging them with ease, but Lucy had no such luck. One bullet managed to bury in her arm, and she cried out in pain, almost losing her grip.

Soon, Maka and Lucy managed to get out of the guns' range, and they left the city behind. Lucy was giving off a gloomy aura, while Maka was openly sobbing.

They left their friends for the second time.

* * *

Erza watched in anger, sadness, and regret as she saw her two friends speed off on the motorcycles. Then, she saw the guards start to shoot at them, and her eyes widened when she saw the bullet bury itself into Lucy's arm. Soul and Tsubaki had to restrain Erza and Natsu from killing the guards.

"So... are we just going to let them go?" Black⭐Star asked bluntly. Everyone glared at him until they saw what he was wearing.

A gas mask.

* * *

**Minna, ohaiyo! Did I do okay with the fleeing scenes? I'm gonna be a little rusty with the action parts, so please forgive me! I'm sorry if I didn't get to the chapter last night, as I was falling asleep, so I had to finish it this morning. Reviews are appreciated! Ja ne~!**

**~Kakomine**


	3. Plans?

Chapter 3

"Ok, so why are we wearing these uncool face masks?" Soul asked for the fifth time.

"To go and find Maka and Lucy," Kid replied, frowning, "They fled the scene unsymmetrically. I need to teach them how to be symmetrical."

"Yahoo! An adventure made for a god! I shall surpass all other gods!" Black⭐Star started yelling, and embarrassing the others.

"Shut up, star-brain!" Natsu growled, punching Black⭐Star in the face.

"Yahoo! Bring it on, measly pe-" Black⭐Star started, but was soon interrupted by Erza, who punched said boy in the gut, effectively silencing him for about 5 minutes.

"Everyone, get a gas mask from those cabinets over there." Erza pointed to some wooden cabinets directly beside the glass room leading to the outside world. She then strode off to get one herself, leaving a bruised Black⭐Star behind muttering, "She's the Devil..."

Soul had stayed silent almost the whole time. He wondered what that look was - the one Maka gave him just before she ran out of the city. Was it regret? Sadness? Fear? The albino shook his head, trying to forget about such things. Right now only one thing mattered.

To get their two best friends back.

* * *

"Luuuuuucy... I'm hungry! Can we pleeeeeease eat something? Wait no, scratch that, I'm starving! I'll eat anythi-" Maka started to complain, but Lucy quickly interrupted.

"Sh-shut up, Maka..." the poor blond growled, her stomach growling very loudly.

"Ehehehe, you're hungry too, ya know!" Maka giggled, and Lucy facepalmed. Honestly, Lucy didn't know how Soul managed to keep up with his overly-childish-but-serious meister.

Okay, so here's the situation. Lucy and Maka have been traveling for a few days now. All they've seen so far are dead grassy plains, bent and smashed cars, and the now-toxic air... which was slightly green. And this leads us to our current time; they didn't think to take any food in their mad dash toward Magnolia's gate, and now they're paying the price.

Lucy's stomach growled again. "Ugh..."

"You're better off than me, Lucy. I think you were the last to eat before the toxic air caught up with us." Maka scowled, getting hunger pains.

"Well, sorry if I was hungry..." Lucy muttered, "and anyways you were the one who-"

Suddenly, the duo heard a groan from a few meters away. Lucy and Maka glanced at each other and advanced slowly, the hair on the back of their necks rising as they quickly shoved their faces around the corner of a wrecked car. What they saw shocked them.

A teenaged guy lay there. His skin was tinted green, much like Maka and Lucy, and his hair was a slightly ruffled jet black. He was wearing long pants and a dark red T-shirt. The dude stirred a little and opened his dark blue eyes and stared at the two girls. He shrieked like a girl would and quickly climbed to his feet, shaking.

"Y-you're green!" he yelped, pointing at them with a quaking finger. He obviously did not notice that he also had green tinted skin, too.

"You have green skin, too, baka..." Maka stated bluntly, pointing at him as well, but with a sarcastic look in her eyes and a still finger.

"Hah?!" The guy checked out his skin, and his eyes widened, horrified.

"Seriously, dude, how can you be so melodramatic about this..." Lucy's sweat dropped.

"I agree. When we first realized that we had green skin, we didn't take our surprise nearly as far as you..." Maka's sweat also dropped.

"Well, I'm sorry! It's not everyday that I wake up after getting killed by the toxic air, and then finding out I have green skin, and THEN finding out that there are other people like me..." the dude ranted on and on, so eventually Maka had to shut him up.

"MAKAAA CHOP!" She yelled, crashing a book on top of the dude's head. He was now bleeding, and doubling over in pain.

"And where did you get the book again?" This time, Lucy just facepalmed.

"Ah crap, this is gonna last a long time..."

* * *

"Well this is depressing..." Tsubaki muttered, "How can they stand being here with all the negative vibes, greenish air, and car wreckages everywhere...?"

The gang - namely Natsu, Erza, Gray, Soul, Tsubaki, Black⭐Star, Kid, Liz, and Patty - were all on the ruins of a small house overlooking a huge, empty plain with gallons of green mist and tons of withered grass.

"Yahoo! This looks like a great training area! Maybe we could-" Black⭐Star's annoying speech was interrupted by Erza.

"We will not stop walking until the sun goes down!" Erza commanded. Everyone's sweat dropped.

"Um... Erza... how do we know when the sun goes down if there's a bunch of green mist and toxins in the way...?" Kid questioned, afraid of getting pwned by a sword.

"Then we will never stop until we find our nakama."

Everyone sighs, and thinks in unison, _You two better be nearby..._

When Maka and the teen guy finally ceased arguing for no apparent reason, Lucy got down to business. Namely, the 'What's your name?' and 'Would you like to join us in our mindless walk into the middle of nowhere?' talk.

"Okay. So. Your name." Lucy gave the poor dude a scrutinizing stare, trying to act tough like Erza.

"Uh... Derrick." 'Derrick' definitely did look a bit scared under Lucy's searching look, and the blond silently cheered. She continued with the strict façade.

"Do you remember anything before your 'sleep'?" Lucy was interrogating the guy, so to speak. Maka almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"Yeah. I remember that I was the first one at Magnolia's gates after the first wave of survivors swarmed in. That's when the gate closed and everyone panicked. It turned into one huge brawl, and I barely escaped with my life," Derrick explained.

"Oh. I see. We were near the city, and saw the huge mob, so we just bypassed the city. We recently just snuck in there and attempted to get some supplies. Unfortunately, that didn't end well." Lucy told a summary of their story so far, looking grim and depressed the whole time.

"Not to be rude, but how did you get into the city with green skin?" Derrick wondered aloud, not realizing that Maka was going to take advantage of his question.

"Not to be rude," Maka mimicked, "but you have the same kind of skin as us."

Derrick glared at the dirty blond, and was about to snap a rude comment back when Lucy interrupted their verbal fiasco by holding up Maka's blush. "We used blush. Apparently, it can cover up the greenish tint to our skin, and revert it back to its original tone."

"That's cool!" Derrick exclaimed, impressed at their discovery. "Can I travel with you guys? Obviously, there's not gonna be many people walking around during these times, so I'll probably be pretty depressed if I ditch you guys here."

Lucy grinned, all her suspicions and toughened exteriors gone, replaced by her true personality. She held her hand out to Derrick as a sign of acceptance. "Yeah! Anyone is welcome to join us! By the way, my name is Lucy."

"Name's Maka." Said dirty blond looked at Derrick dryly. "Don't expect me to be all friendly with you just because Lucy-chan is."

"Right back 'atcha bookworm."

"Hey! And how did you know I read books?!"

"Because you smacked me with one..."

Lucy's sweat dropped, and she thought wearily, Not again...

"Hey! I have an idea!" Lucy suddenly had an epiphany.

"What?" both Maka and Derrick said in unison.

"Maybe we could find more mutated survivors. People like us. You know... people with greenish skin...?" As Maka and Derrick started to give Lucy blank looks, Lucy gave up on the idea. But then Maka spoke up.

"I think that's a great idea, Lucy! Then we could start our own guild, or something like that." Maka's eyes started to sparkle as she was carried away with her own added idea.

Derrick rolled his eyes. "I guess it does sound like a good plan. But you guys are so stuck in your fantasy worlds that you don't realize one thing."

This time, it was Lucy and Maka who gave Derrick the blank looks. "What?"

"This so-called 'plan' of yours is gonna take a long time. I don't think-" Derrick was interrupted by a fist to the face.

"You didn't think that we realized this, baka?! You're interrupting my daydreaming! MAKAAAAAA... CHOP!" The dirty blonde smacked another randomly-found book on he poor dude's head.

"Again, where did you find that book...?" Lucy then shook her head. "Nah. It'll be useless to ask."

* * *

"Ugh. We lost sight of the city a couple of days ago. Where are we?" Gray complained. He stripped again.

"Gray-san," Tsubaki reminded gently, "your clothes."

"Ah! How did this happen?!" Gray started scrambling to retrieve his clothes before Erza caught him stripping. Unfortunately, he was too late. He sensed an ominous aura just to his right.

"Gray..." Erza muttered warningly.

"P-please don't kill me E-Erza-sama!" Gray stuttered, now seriously worried for his health.

_BAM!_

_POW!_

_SMACK!_

Tsubaki stared, Kid chuckled, Natsu openly laughed, and Erza smirked at the now-cowering Gray. He now had several fractured ribs, two broken ones, a twisted ankle, a kick where the sun don't shine, and a few well-placed bruises. Not to mention a few cuts from Erza's uber-sharp sword that she now held in his face.

"Next time, no stripping," the re-equip mage instructed. Gray trembled.

"A-aye, Erza-sama!"

"You guys never learn, do you?" Kid shook his head. "The poor guy has a habit that is apparently hard to break."

"Damn straight!" Gray growled.

_WHACK!_

"Now, we will continue on our search for Maka and Lu-" Erza started, but was quickly interrupted by Natsu.

"Erza. I smell them. They were here a few hours ago." Natsu started sniffing around the car wreckage they were at. Erza checked the ground. Yep. The grass was padded down with many footprints, presumably Maka and Lucy's. and wait... Erza narrowed her eyes. There was a third set of footprints.

"Natsu!" Erza beckoned him over and pointed at the anonymous footprints.

"Yeah. I smell an unfamiliar scent, too." Natsu then suddenly realized the possible implications of what he just said. "Wait... if they were kidnapped, we gotta save them! Come on let's-"

Erza interrupted the pinkette by punching him in the face and effectively silencing him. "Don't go jumping to conclusions, Natsu. This mysterious person may be friendly."

"Yeah, flame-brain, can't even think of that?" Gray taunted, obviously egging the already excited pinkette on. The Ice-Make mage had already stripped for the fight.

"Whatever! Your god demands that we go on and find my loyal subjects! I will destroy-" Black⭐Star started, but was then interrupted by Erza (again). The red-head had whacked his head with the pommel of one of her swords.

"Right now, we will set up camp. That is an order, understand?" Erza quickly took control of the situation, as she saw that the boys were about to set each other off. Tsubaki's sweat just dropped in response.

"A-aye, Erza-sama!"

Oh boy...

* * *

**Sorry, minna, for the long wait! I've been busy with essays, various projects, math tests, and service hours, and I haven't really been able to really put in the time to type. I mean, I get some tiny spaces in my schedule, but that's about it, really. Anyway, please review and tell me if I need to add something to my chapters! Ja ne~!**

**~Kakomine**


	4. The Awkward Meeting

**Hi, everyone! I know, I've never wrote stuff before I started the chapter, but I need to let you guys know something. I'm going to be doing another two-year time skip. I know, I know, I shouldn't really be doing it, but I'm too lazy to write about every single little thing that happens while Lucy, Maka, and Derrick are searching for more mutated survivors. And by the way, Black⭐Star, Soul, Erza, Natsu, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Gray, and Patty have all become mutated people. Except, they have ashy grey skin. I will reveal why in the chapters to come. And, to make my writing more convenient, I have come up with some new terms, as well as code names for our dear mutated survivors.**

**Mutated Survivors = Raigen**

**Green skins (Lucy and Maka's faction) = Kettrin**

**Grey skins (opposing faction) = Vittra**

**Lucy's code name = Reaper**

**Maka's code name = Tales**

**Derrick's code name = Shadow**

**Julie's code name = Tech**

**Allen's code name = Lance**

**Frank's code name = Rifle**

**Kelly's code name = Rider**

**Riding tigers = Sazu**

**Riding lizards = Gerlins**

**Plasma cannon = Project 81140**

Chapter 4

Natsu glared out over the empty plain as he was sitting on a car wreckage, which conveniently happened to be right next to a house. So far, these past two years, their search for Maka and Lucy has been fruitless. However, none of the group that came will ever give up. The two girls could never vanish into thin air, no matter how fast they were. Natsu was getting impatient, though. A dragon could only go so long without seeing his mate.

Poor Soul was in the same boat, though he didn't go to desperate measures like our dear Dragon Slayer, here. The albino often found himself daydreaming about the time he would see his meister again. He also began testing his newfound abilities as a Raigen, not that he knew about the term.

Here's the situation. The group had stopped traveling a few hours ago, and thought that staying in the abandoned house would be a good idea, instead of sleeping and traveling in the middle of the rain. Yes, it still rained in the toxic atmosphere. The house they were at was near a cliff.

Erza glanced up at the cliff. "We'll think of a way to climb that tomorrow morning. We WILL find Lucy and Maka."

Tsubaki smiled. "It's so nice to hear encouragement, Erza. We needed that a lot. And you're right. Those two can't have disappeared into nowhere."

"Yeah! When we find them, I'm gonna give Maka lots of paper giraffes I made!" Patty showed them a bunch of messily-folded oragami giraffes. Everyone's sweat dropped.

"And... how did you get those papers? Wait..." Kid thought for a second, the paled. He stared at the giraffes. "THEY'RE TOTALLY UNSYMMETRICAL!"

Liz had to hold the poor Shinigami down as he struggled to get to the giraffes and perfect their shapes. Tsubaki sighed, while Black⭐Star just grinned and egged Kid on. Suddenly, the assassin's weapon noticed movement on the top of the cliff. She narrowed her eyes and shook Black⭐Star's shoulder, while pointing.

"Peasants! Pay attention! There's some people at the top of the cliff!" Black⭐Star shouted, making Tsubaki's desired message clear. Everyone looked up, and saw two Sazu and their riders staring down at them. Then the animals did the unthinkable.

They jumped off of the cliff.

* * *

Frank was minding his own business. He really was. He just wanted his patrol to be as peaceful as possible, with Allen's shouting that he wanted a real fight. Until, some people just had to interrupt him, and he HAD to go down the cliff and investigate, according to Allen. As Frank's Sazu, Ben, jumped the cliff, Frank narrowed his eyes at the newcomers' skin color.

"Allen!" Frank shouted, pointing to the mysterious group of people, "They're Vittra! Let's secure them first, and ask questions later."

Allen groaned. "What? So we aren't gonna fight them? That's jacked up, man..."

"Everything's jacked up in your world..." Frank muttered, who facepalmed.

When the Sazu landed with a heavy thump on the dead grass, Frank and Allen charged forward and circled the supposed 'Vittra'. Frank kept his AK-47 trained on them, while Allen just brandished his great sword threateningly.

"State your business. Quickly," Frank demanded, "I want an explanation. Why are the Vittra here?"

"Vit-wha? What's that? And who are you?" Natsu then sniffed at them. Their scent was laced with a very familiar one.

"Okay, that's creepy. Are you sure I can't kill this one, Rifle?" Allen retreated a little, peeved that some pink-haired kid sniffed him.

"Lance..." Frank shook his head. "You know Captain Reaper doesn't like it when you kill unnecessarily. Captain Tales doesn't care for it, either."

"It's creepy, though! Why did he sniff me?!"

"Okay, shut up! This is going nowhere! If Lu-" Frank shut his mouth, then kept going. "I mean, if Reaper was here, we wouldn't have this problem. She would've tied you down by now."

Allen visibly paled, then finally kept his mouth shut. Frank cleared his throat. "As I was saying, why are you guys on Kettrin territory? And why are you on the Magnolia border? Shouldn't you be on the OPPOSITE side?"

"First, we are not Vittra, whoever they may be. Secondly, we are looking for two friends who went missing somewhere in the general direction we are traveling," Erza explained, then narrowed her eyes at poor Frank and Allen. She then asked, "You didn't happen to see two girls, a blond and a dirty blond have you? The blond has brown eyes, and the dirty blond has green eyes."

Frank and Allen exchanged a meaningful glance that did not go unnoticed by Erza. "So you have seen them."

"N-no, we haven't," Frank said firmly, giving Erza a hard stare, "But we have seen a few travelers going through the area with gas masks on."

Tsubaki finally spoke. "It sounds like you guys have a lot of people in your group. Do you have any spare shelter we could use?"

"Yes, we do. But we're going to tie you guys up first. Allen doesn't trust you guys, and to be honest, I don't completely believe you either." Frank jumped off his Sazu and took a tentative step forward, testing to see if Erza and the rest would react aggressively to being tied up.

Apparently, Natsu did have a problem with this. "What?! No way in hell you guys are gonna put chains on me! We're looking for our two friends, here! We don't need your shelter, and I'm gonna-"

Erza finally shut Natsu up by punching a well-placed bruise onto his head. The pinkette kneeled on the floor, clutching his head in pain. Erza spoke up. "We have no problem being tied. Don't we?"

Erza stared at everyone else with a malevolent glint in her eyes, and everyone shrunk back from her evil aura. They all saluted with a shaky 'A-aye!'.

* * *

"Hey, Lucy!" Lucy turned and looked at a panting and sweating bluenette. The poor girl was never athletic.

"Yeah, Julie? What's up? Did you get a message from your 'Frankie'?" Lucy teased, ruffling Julie's hair.

The bluenette looked up defiantly at Lucy and growled, "Why, yes, I did. He told me to tell you that they have prisoners and to meet them at the training area."

Lucy's face turned to that of a confused one. "But I thought I assigned them to the Magnolian border..."

Julie shrugged. "Beats me why they have prisoners. Maybe the Vittra are trying to surround us. Kinda unlikely when you think about those lazy bastards."

"Huh. Ok... Then I guess I'll meet them there..." Lucy pulled up her hood, and strode towards the Sazu cave.

* * *

**Kakomine: Btw, here's a description of Lucy and Maka's outfit: Basically, it's a grey skirt that ends about mid-thigh, and a bullet-proofed shirt that ends a little bit above the stomach and has short sleeves. And a hood tops it all off (literally X3). A bunch of gear adorns the clothing like grenades, a pistol, a couple of daggers, a bigger gun (if nessecary), and maybe a lance or great sword.**

* * *

"Who is this uncool person we're supposed to meet anyways?" Soul complained. This earned him a smack on the head by Erza.

"Show your manners! We are guests, and I'm assuming we are meeting someone very important to these people!" Erza lectured.

"More like prisoners..." Soul muttered.

Erza glared. "What was that?"

"N-nothing, Erza-sama!"

Black⭐Star and Natsu snickered at the scene, unaware that the dark and ominous aura was turned upon them until it was too late. A sword pommel smacked into each of their heads causing them to roll on the floor in pain.

"That should teach you three a lesson. Anymore objections?"

Erza was met with silence. "Good."

All of a sudden, the gang heard laughter. They turned and looked at 'Rifle' and 'Lance'.

"Are you sure we should do that?" 'Rifle' whispered, giggling.

"Hell yes. I bet you she can't do it!" 'Lance' chuckled, clutching his stomach.

"Who can't do what?" Erza approached them, arms crossed and a serious/ominous look on her face.

'Rifle' and his partner exchanged a glance before going on, "Our leader's code name is Reaper. She's one of our two captains, and the best at throwing daggers. We asked her to meet us here. Which is the training area."

"How is this the training area?" Erza raised an eyebrow and looked across the currently flat expanse of a field they called the 'training area'.

'Lance' grinned mischievously. "You'll see. Here she comes now."

* * *

Lucy looked around herself. Yep. There was no one in sight. Either Frank and Allen were joking around with her or-

"-they are going to activate the hardest training course as A PRANK ON ME!" Lucy screamed the last part of her thought, certain the two troublemakers could hear her.

The flat ground of the training area started to shift and change. Lucy's Sazu - Lala - started pacing nervously, as if she too was expecting the disturbance of a peaceful morning. A pool of lava rose from underground, and magnetic, floating platforms dotted the area. A few gravitational shift pads were placed at strategic points, and several poison dart holes littered the sides of the arena. Lucy sighed. She had better just get this over with.

Lala walked a few calm steps forward, before suddenly leaping 10 feet into the air to dodge a small poison dart. The Sazu twisted in the air as not to drop her rider, and so she could land smoothly while dodging a second poison dart. Lucy urged her mount forward - at a really fast pace - and they leapt together to the first magnetic platform. Lucy jumped off of her mount, while the latter dove down a tunnel, taking a shortcut to the end of the training course.

The blond - still in her hood - did an easy front flip to the next magnetic platform. Lucy maintained a hand-stand position, knowing full well that this particular platform had a gravitational shift. The Kettrin captain thus landed smoothly on the bottom side of a higher platform. She proceeded to jump to another platform's bottom side while activating another cleverly hidden gravitational shift. Lucy then grabbed the edge of that platform and lifted herself onto the top surface of it.

Now, in front of her, there was a path that went in a spiral towards the end of the training course. She charged towards it, activating many gravitational shifts as she went, taking the inside path of the spiral. At the last minute, Lala charged out of the tunnel she was traveling, allowing Lucy the chance to mount again. Lucy did so, stopping at the training course's exit.

The course folded up behind her, and she growled out, "Dear Frank and Allen, care to explain this?"

The two troublemakers trembled from where they hid.

* * *

**Ugh, I'm a terrible person. Definitely. I haven't been updating. ? I am sooooooo sorry! I've been so busy, what, with family issues with what happened recently, Language essays, tests, Science Fair, all that jazz. Again, I apologize for the reeeeeeally late update. Hoped you enjoyed it. In your reviews, please tell me how I did on that little action scene I wrote. I need to watch for any improvement because of the fighting scenes coming up in the sequel chapters. Ja ne~!**

**~Kakomine**


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